Slow starts and cold shooting nights plagued the Wildcat Women’s basketball team over the weekend. The ‘Cats fell for the first time in over a month, ending their six game winning streak.

“[We] are a young team, who showed our inexperience,” coach Chris Kielsmeier said. “We didn’t play very hard, and got outplayed. We didn’t execute, we didn’t hit shots. It was just a frustrating weekend for our program, but I really believe that our players will grow a lot from this past weekend.”

To start the weekend, WSC headed to Fayette, Iowa to take on the Upper Iowa University Peacocks. The Wildcats lost the game 55-48.

The ‘Cats trailed after one quarter 13-8, but went on a 9-0 run and took their first lead of the game with just over six minutes left in the first half. Both defenses played good in the first half, with neither team allowing 20 points through one half of play, with the score 19-18 in favor of the Peacocks.

During the third quarter both teams continued to struggle to score. The quarter featured four ties and five lead changes. After all was said and done in the back-and-fourth quarter, the Wildcats trailed 33-31.

The early stages of the fourth quarter was a lot like the third, in the fact that it was a back and forth battle. WSC took their final lead of the game at 37-35 with 6:51 left in the game, but that was short lived as the Peacocks regained the lead not long after. The Cats fell 55-48.

On Saturday, the Wildcats took on their conference foe, the Winona State (WSU) Wazoos in Winona Minn. The Wildcats lost the game 63-49.

The Wildcats were down early, trailing 16-2 after the first quarter. WSC battled back and outscored WSU 18-14 in the second quarter to cut the deficit to ten points at the conclusion of the first half, 30-20.

“[The goal] is to make sure we are playing the best basketball we have all year at the end of February,” Kielsmeier said.

The ‘Cats mad a charge in the third quarter that turned a 34-22 WSU lead into only a 36-33 lead. With the Wazoo lead at, WSC’s Paige Ballinger picked up her fourth personal foul. The bench disagreed with the call, earning a technical foul that pushed the lead back up to seven points. After three quarters of play, WSC trailed 47-42.

In the fourth quarter the ‘Cats cut the lead to four, early in the fourth quarter, but never got closer than that. WSU scored the next twelve points to put the game finally out of reach. WSC fell 63-49.

“I think it stung them really, in a reality way,” Kielsmeier said. “We got to do things at a higher level if we want to be great, and I think they realize that now.”

The Wildcats are back in action on Saturday and Sunday this weekend, facing off against Minot State on Saturday, and University of Mary on Sunday.

BOX SCORE

Upper Iowa 55, Wayne State 48

WSC———–7 11 13 17—-48

At UIU——–13 6 14 22—55

WSC: Martensen 14, Shulte 13, Ballinger 11, Murren 7, Moore 3.

UIU: Cleaver 17, Kieffer 13, Pagel 10, Ofstad 6, Martin 4, Grabau 2, Bergren 2, Fitzpatrick 1.

Winona State 63, Wayne State 49

WSC———– 2 18 22 7—49

At Winn. ——16 14 17 16—63

WSC: Murren 9, O’Connor 8, Reiner 8, Schulte 7, Ballinger 5, Martensen 4, Larson 3, Davis 2, Lowe 2, Moore 1.

WIN: Foley 17, Reolofs 14, Nagle 14, Timmerman 6, McGlone 4, Scaefer 4, Tuttle 3, Weiland 1.